Music Street Journal - Music News & Reviews

This is a good, but not great, live album from King Crimson. The first thing holding it from the “great” title is the sound quality.

In honor of the 40th Anniversary of the Earthbound album King Crimson have released this deluxe set. It's an amazing release, too. First, you get the original album with three bonus songs added to it.

This new EP from King Crimson is intriguing. It's bookended by their take on a David Bowie classic (the full version and a single edit).

This was King Crimson’s second album. Greg Lake continued to provide vocals here (with the exception of one song), although he had left the band.

King Crimson has one of the most interesting and complicated histories in all of progressive rock. The lineup is one of the most dynamic, too.

It seems that there is quite a bit of live material being released from this version of King Crimson. That's a great thing because this line-up might be the best ever.

This is truly an amazing set. Looking at just the product itself, without even considering the performances will tell you that.

I have to say that for my money, the modern incarnation of King Crimson really is probably the best. The reason I say that is that there are distinct periods of the band throughout their history.

For me Red has always been King Crimson’s ultimate album. I know, there are those who will point to Larks’ Tongues…, but personally I think this one is more cohesive and to the point.

It used to be a rule at MSJ that if something was out of print we didn’t cover it.

When King Crimson reformed after the 80s period, there were definitely elements of that period still present in their sound.

King Crimson is an unusual beast as a musical entity. I've been fascinated by the band about as long as I've known about them.

The core of this group is Pat Mastelotto (King Crimson drummer) and his wife Deborah. They are joined by a whole host of musicians here.

As I sat down to do a retro review of the single of "The Smile Has Left Your Eyes," I realized that I've never reviewed this album. I decided to resolve that issue.

I initially had planned to land this under progressive rock. That was largely due to the appearance of Tony Levin and Jerry Marotta.

Animals is, without question, my favorite Pink Floyd album. it's actually pretty high up on my list of best albums of all-time, too.

Brian Tarquin is one of the three guys who are listed as making up Band of Brothers. The other two are Phil Naro and Reggie Pryor.

As you might guess from the album title, all of the music here was written by the composer Béla Bartok. These are rock interpretations of the pieces, though.

This solo album from Jon Lord has been reissued with some bonus tracks. It's an intriguing album.

Emerson Lake and Palmer broke up in 1979. They got back together in the 1990s, though, and this disc was the first music they released after that reunion.

I have to say that I have gone back and forth on whether this release fits under progressive rock. Ultimately, I made the decision to put it there.

This is a long-lost gem of early progressive rock. I suppose it should be called proto-prog, but it definitely has some pure prog moments.

This is a double CD that is essentially a concept album or rock opera, depending on how you look at it. It's packed full of great music that lands in the progressive rock zone.

This album is all about instrumental collaboration and exploration.

Asia has had many line-ups throughout their long career as part of having more than two-dozen musicians pass through their ranks.

In 1984 Keith Emerson and Greg Lake had plans to reunite Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Carl Palmer was unavailable, though, so they recruited Cozy Powell.

This new set from the ever-changing group of musicians recording under the name "The Prog Collective" does feel a little darker than some of the rest of their music.

I heartily included this on my list of best albums of 2023. It is a beautiful sonic tapestry that encompasses classical music, progressive rock and jazz.

The Fearless album, from 1971 saw John Wetton joining Family. It also saw the sound of the group change to some degree.

This is an intriguing band that I've never heard before. The group was formed by drummer Andrew McCulloch, keyboardist Graham Field and bassist/vocalist Alan Barry.

This was the second Alice Cooper album as a solo performer (rather than the front man of Alice Cooper the band).

The old school Asia singles are cool because they generally include b-sides that aren't available on the main albums. This is no exception.

While Bernardo Lanzetti might not be a household name, in terms of Italian progressive rock, he really is a legend.

This is a collection of songs from Humble Pie that was recorded between 1974 and 1976. It features the lineup of Steve Marriott, Greg Ridley and Clem Clempson.

This compilation disc is quite strong. There is really a lot of great music here.

It would be really hard to slap a label on this album, other than just lumping it in as progressive rock. Much of it is freeform, largely instrumental, weirdness.

I feel like I'm really late to the party on this artist. I have to admit that I've not heard of him before.

This is an intriguing instrumental album.

This album from Jeff Berlin is a tribute to Jack Bruce.

Julie Slick is a bass player who came to the attention of many through her work in the Adrian Belew Power Trio.

Rymo is a shortened form of Ryan Moran's name, and he's best known as the drummer for Slightly Stoopid. This solo album finds him joined by a number of musicians.

This is a compilation set from John Wetton.

This new album showcases a lot of cool Beatles covers from a number of artists. It's actually compiled of tracks previously released on a number of albums.

Robert Fripp provides guitar and soundscapes to this.

This live album is pretty good. It suffers a bit in terms of sound quality.

This band can be looked at as a spin-off from King Crimson. They play music that's very much in line with earlier King Crimson here.

It's easy to think of John Wetton as a prog artist. His work in bands like UK and King Crimson (and even Asia) lend credence to that argument.

Tribute albums like this are always interesting, but also often disappointing.

As unique as the last album from Unquiet Music Ltd. was, I think this is even more "out there." Yet, it's strangely compelling.

I have previously reviewed quite a few releases from Alex Carpani, yet I don't think I was prepared for this one.

A collection like this is hard to capture in a track by track review setting. These tracks are, by definition, more atmospheric and textural.

You can always count on David Cross to deliver great music. This album is no exception.

This is the second album from this artist I've reviewed. I loved the other one, and I think I like this one even more.

Now this is more like it! I enjoyed the Payne fronted version of Asia also but if you are a purist, then Omega will certainly satisfy those cravings for original Asia material.

This live set should definitely please ELP fans. It's four CD set that is made up of music recorded on three different nights.

This album, the second from Bill Bruford's solo project that went by his last name, is just getting a great remastered vinyl release from his own Winterfold Records.

This is an unusual release. Parts of it are full-on progressive rock.

This is an unusual release. It's an instrumental disc with the music often in the heavy range, but sometimes working to mellower territory.

This was Peter Gabriel's first solo album after he left Genesis in 1975. This 1977 release was also the first to bear the title "Peter Gabriel."

This is Peter Gabriel's second solo album. It's definitely quite a bit different than the first one.

I've listed this under the actual title, which was the ever more confusing "Peter Gabriel."

Clint Bahr has been covered at Music Street Journal previously as part of the group Tripod. This is his new solo album.

It's hard, in retrospect, to understand the importance of King Crimson's debut album. It really did set a new standard for what would be known as progressive rock.

I have heard arguments that say that the 1970s were the decade with the best music. Like any decade, they had a lot of garbage music

This book is something very special. A good tag-line for this would be "come for the pictures, stay for the stories."

This set features some strong music that focuses on the fusion end of the spectrum, but does work more toward pure prog at times.

While I prefer the previous Peter Gabriel album to this one, there is plenty to like here.

I generally like things like this where an album is created by taking the track list of a famous album and having different artists reproduce the songs.

You know you are in for a treat when the lineup of the group is Markus Reuter, Pat Mastelotto and Trey Gunn. You can also figure that the music will be along the lines of King Crimson and Stick Men.

Following closely on the heels of their last release, Tu-Ner has unleashed another thrilling set of instrumental music on the world.

You just can't go wrong with Stick Men. The band is made up of Tony Levin, Pat Mastelotto and Markus Reuter.

In the early 2000s, Uriah Heep were in a unique space. They were having another resurgence that started with Raging Silence.

This new soundtrack album features some killer music. It leans on the space rock, trippy side of the equation.

One of the cool things about these vintage Asia singles is that the song on the flip side is typically not included on the album. That makes these worth having.

These days the idea of people playing live with loops and other triggered backing tracks is not revolutionary at all.

I know Judy Collins might not seem like the kind of artist that a prog and metal fan like myself enjoys. I've always liked her music, and especially her voice, though.

This four-CD set has some great music contained within. We get some of the bigger prog acts in terms of songs from Renaissance, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Electric Light Orchestra, Procol Harum and Yes.

Stick Men consistently put out quality material. So, the fact that this album is a strong as it is should be no surprise.

The Prog Collective always puts out interesting music. It's a project that has Billy Sherwood at its core.

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